Angry, frustrated ... that pretty much sums up how Matt Duchene is feeling these days. One goal every six games isn't going to cut it for the Avalanche center, and he knows it.
Duchene's line, which included Blake Comeau in the first three games, has yet to produce an even-strength goal. Duchene scored a power-play goal into a half-open net Sunday in Los Angeles, Jarome Iginla had a power-play goal in each of the first two games, and rookie Mikko Rantanen didn't have a point.
The Avalanche on Thursday assigned Rantanen, their first-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft, to San Antonio of the AHL and recalled Dennis Everberg, who had three goals and two assists in three games with the Rampage.
Duchene matched his season high for shots in a game with three Wednesday (he has nine overall) in the Avalanche's 1-0 overtime loss to Carolina and was robbed with about 3:42 left in the third period by goalie Cam Ward. After taking a pass from Iginla, Duchene moved left and watched Ward make a diving save with the paddle portion of his stick, swatting the puck away with an empty net behind him.
"I had a great view of it from behind the net," said Iginla, who had a season-high four shots. "Ward didn't give up on it, put his stick out. Nine times out of 10 that will find its way. Unfortunately it was an amazing save. I thought we were going to be cheering, but not to be."
Duchene said it's been difficult for him to put plays like that behind him.
"It's hard because I put so much pressure on myself," he said. "My job is to score and provide offense and obviously that's probably game over unless they score having to pull the goalie. It's extremely frustrating that I wasn't able to put that one in, but when you're getting chances it comes.
"I'm pissed off, absolutely -- extremely frustrated that I wasn't able to finish that one off. I'm trying to find a way to blame myself and it's tough because it's an amazing save. I tried to roof it and in hindsight I could have just slid it in, but you're never going to do that because the goalie has an easier time making that save.
"I got one (in Los Angeles) and it felt good. I have to try and not be frustrated right now and just move forward. If I move forward I can be the best I can be for this team, and that's the most important thing."
The Avalanche had another glorious chance 25 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime when Duchene fed Iginla for a clean breakaway. But Ward turned that one aside, too, and the Hurricanes took advantage of a bad change to score on Victor Rask's goal at 1:49.
"It's tough when you get a breakaway in OT and you don't get it," Iginla said. "It's very disappointing. We want to get ourselves on a roll, but we did a lot of things that we want to do. The habits were there in a close game. Now it makes the next one before we go on the road that much more important."
The Avalanche (2-3-1) close out the two-game homestand Saturday against Columbus, which played its first game under new coach John Tortorella on Thursday at Minnesota.
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Based on coach Patrick Roy's comments after the game, defenseman Brandon Gormley will remain in the lineup after playing his first game of the season. He moved the puck quickly for the most part in 17:22 of ice time while paired with Nick Holden, who -- surprisingly -- played a game-high 24:32. Erik Johnson played 23:16 and Francois Beauchemin 23:10.
"I thought that Holden and Gormley played really well," Roy said. "They were really solid and I thought they deserved their ice time."
Goalie Semyon Varlamov only faced 19 shots, but he turned aside Elias Lindholm's open shot from the right circle during a Hurricanes power play with eight minutes left in the second period and gloved Kris Versteeg's shorthanded breakaway with 36 seconds to go in the period.
Varlamov lowered his season goals-against average from 5.06 to 3.89 and raised his save percentage from .841 to .861.
"He played really well, made some good saves," Roy said. "I was very happy with him. We didn't give them much, a few chances here and there. The last three games we gave up a total of two goals, three with the overtime. This is good defense. The offense will be taken care of. I'm confident our guys will find the back of the net."
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